◼ TECHNOLOGY Bloomberg Businessweek July 22, 2019
23Toavoidthat,peopleoftenhavetakenjobsthey
didn’twant,saysEricVallett,anInstacartworker
inBuffalowho’stappedACCEPTmorethanonce
toavoidanotherseriesofpings.“Youjustwantto
getawayfromthatsound,”hesays.
Thefour-minutesonicbarrageis amonga slew
oftacticsInstacartusestopushworkerstohan-
dlelow-payingtaskstheyotherwisemightreject,
accordingtointerviewswithdozensofshoppers.
Theysaythecompanyhashoundedthemwith
phonecalls,textmessages,andthreateningin-app
messages,andthatit quietlybutexplicitlypun-
ishesthemforrejectingundesirabletasksbylim-
itingtheirgigoptionsandincome.“Weshould
havea righttosay‘I don’twantit’withoutbeing
penalized,”saysTheresaThornton,whoshopsfor
InstacartinMissouriCity,Texas.
HowmuchInstacartcontrolsitsshoppersisn’t
justa matterofmoraleorpublicrelations—it’san
existentialquestion.LikeUber,Instacart’sclassifi-
cationofworkersascontractorsmeanstheydon’t
enjoytheprotectionsandbenefitsthatemploy-
eesget.Thecompany’sbusinessmodelcenterson
keepingcostslowenoughtosatisfyinvestorsand
keepingdeliveriesswiftandreliableenoughtowin
overcustomers,withoutexertingthekindofclear
managementauthoritythatmightleada courtto
rulethattheapp’sshoppersareemployeesand
thereforecoveredbysuchlawsasminimumwage.
AnInstacartspokesperson,whodeclinedtobe
quoteddirectly,saysthefour-minutewaitensures
workers havetime to make a decisionabout
whethertoacceptthetask,usingtheinfoInstacart
providesonthenumberofitems,retailer,distance,
andestimatedearningsinvolved.
WorkerssayInstacartisn’treallyprovidingthe
sortofflexibilityit advertises.Thecompanyreserves
manyofitsjobsforpeoplewhosignupaheadof
timetobeavailableduringparticularshifts.Toget
substantialworkthroughInstacart’sapp,shoppers
say,theyneedtoearn“earlyaccess”totheshiftsign-
upsbyworking 90 hours over the prior three weeks,
or 25 hours over the prior three weekends. And
that privileged status can be threatened if workers
turn down jobs, or “batches,” they deem undesir-
able. They say Instacart may prematurely end their
shift or add a “reliability incident” to their profile,
which hurts their chances of getting the better work.
Instacart says most workers select hours without get-
ting early access and that many appreciate that the
reward system offers them a goal to pursue.
One in-app message that Instacart has sent work-
ers warns them to “Watch it!” because their “reli-
ability decreased” when they failed to “acknowledge
a batch in time.” Another tells workers who chose
not to accept a batch that to continue shopping,
they should confirm in the app that they’re avail-
able. “Not doing so may affect your future ability
to select hours for services,” the message says. In
Washington state, Instacart worker Ashley Knudson
says she was punished with a reliability incident
even after she told the company she was stopping
work for the day because her car had been broken
into and was full of glass. “It’s certainly not flexible,”
she says. The app prompts workers to explain why
they rejected an offer. The possible explanations it
offers include the batch being too big or small and
“other,” but not insufficient pay.
Instacart says reliability incidents are meant to
make sure the company offers work to shoppers
who are available, not to punish them. Workers who
believe they’ve been wrongly given an unreliability
incident can contact support staff to get it removed,
the company says, and it will do so in such cases
as car trouble or illness. The reliability incidents go
away over a 30-day period and don’t lead to workers
being permanently banned, according to Instacart.
In addition to the app notifications, workers
say, waiting the requisite four minutes to dodge an
offer they don’t want also can trigger an automated
text message to their phones that says, “Your batch
has been removed.” Every so often, Instacart’s
“Shopper Happiness” staff calls to push a worker
to handle a certain batch. “They’ll call you repeat-
edly. They’ll be like, ‘You’re the only shopper avail-
able,’ ” says Kristin Klatkiewicz, an Instacart worker
in Covington, Wash. “Sometimes they’re like, ‘You
need to take this order.’ ”
Instacart says a bug recently caused its app to
send workers text messages when they didn’t accept
a task, rather than in-app notifications, and that it’s
fixed that bug. The company says that absent exten-
uating circumstances, its support staff shouldn’t
be contacting workers unprompted, and it doesn’t
force anyone to take on unwanted tasks.
This spring, Instacart released an “on-demand”
feature that it said would make its app more acces-
sibleandflexibleforworkersbymakingsometasks
availabletowhoeverlogsonina certainregion,not
justtopeoplewho’vesignedupforthoseparticular
hours. But some workers who’ve tried it say the
on-demand system pushes down their earnings and
makes it tougher for them to figure out what’s worth
their time. The tasks are offered simultaneously to
a bunch of workers in the same area and assigned
tothefirstpersonwhoaccepts them,so usu-
allyatleastoneis willingtogamble—oftenwithin
seconds, with no time to read the offer carefully.
“It’s like Hunger Games,” says Instacart worker Heidi
Carrico in Portland, Ore. “If you don’t accept it,● Share of platform
food delivery workers
who say they “would
workwitha fever”Instacart
Other
“Appis fairtome”
3.4 5
Jobsatisfaction
3.5 5● Average response of
platform food delivery
workers, on a scale of
1 to 7InstacartOther47%27%